September (1 post)

Reds and returns

Martin's back with some fascinating stats...

Every week he will be here on skysports.com to answer your questions and to offer you statistical gems from what he's seen as he tours the world commentating for Sky Sports.

Sky Sports' voice of football and his back-up team of experts want your queries on all things statistical and historical from the beautiful game.

Adebayor: the 93rd Premier League red card against Arsenal... and their third 5-2 win

So if you have spotted something from a game or have been stumped by a pub quiz question, simply email skysportsclub@bskyb.com and he will do his best to help.

Tyler's teaser

But as usual we'll kick off with a question for YOU. Click play to see this week's Tyler's Teaser.

Martin's starting stat

I was at the Emirates to see Arsenal win the North London derby by the same scoreline as last year, which was unusual given the nature of that scoreline. Again Spurs scored first, but in the last 19 derbies, the side that has scored first has only won six - and in the last three at the Emirates the side scoring first has lost.

Emmanuel Adebayor took his tally in North London derbies (all competitions) to 10 (8 in 9 for Arsenal, 2 in 3 for Spurs). Also he scored the 100th goal of his career in England, of which 62 were for Arsenal and 19 for Tottenham. He has also scored 21 in 51 games at the Emirates.

Spurs went into the game above Arsenal, but ended up two points adrift of them. They haven't finished above their rivals since 1994/95 when Gerry Francis was manager and they finished seventh and Arsenal 12th, 11 points the difference. It still hasn't happened in the Wenger years, though, so that's a target for Andre Villas-Boas.

Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud all scored and they have the same Premier League records (Played 12, Scored 4). The game also marked Arsenal's first win in a 12.45pm Saturday kick-off in three years since they beat Spurs 3-0 in 2009.

FIVE TRUEHi Martin. I couldn't believe it when Arsenal beat Tottenham 5-2 for the second season in a row on Saturday. It seems a pretty rare score line but they've done it twice now! How many times has a side won 5-2 in the Premier League era? James Baker (Hull City fan)

MARTIN SAYS: You might be surprised to learn that this was the 29th time a Premier League game has finished 5-2 - so while you might think it's rare, the scoreline crops up, on average, at least once a season. Saturday's game was Arsenal's third 5-2 Premier League win (after last year's North London derby and a 5-2 home win over West Brom in August 2002), but that tally has been beaten by Manchester United. They have beaten Oldham, Wimbledon, Crystal Palace and Tottenham by a 5-2 scoreline in the Premier League years.

STARTER FOR 10Dear Martin, On Sunday, Sunderland beat a 10-man Fulham team and it was our first win since February, where we beat a 10-man Stoke. This got me wondering and inspired my question which is; what team has faced 10 men the most in the PL? Also, which team has the best record of taking advantage of the extra man, and beating a team down to 10-men? Jordan Wilkinson (Sunderland fan)

MARTIN SAYS: Sunday's game was the 39th occasion in which Sunderland have faced 10 men or fewer in the Premier League. However, there are 11 teams to have played against 10 men (or fewer) more often. As you can see from the list below, Saturday's North London derby was the 93rd occasion when Arsenal have seen an opposing player sent off in the Premier League - 13 times more than the next nearest team (Liverpool with 80).

However, Arsenal have only converted 56 of those 93 games into victories (a ratio of 60.2%). To answer your question, the team that has converted facing 10 men into victories most often is Manchester United. They've won 43 of the 57 games they've played against 10 men, a ratio of 75.4%, which is higher than any other side.

For your interest Jordan, Sunderland have won just 16 of their 39 matches against 10 men, which is a ratio of just 41%.

Best win percentages against 10 men:

Team

Games played v 10 men or fewer

Games won v 10 men or fewer

Win percentage

Man United

57

43

75.4

Chelsea

50

36

72.0

Liverpool

80

54

67.5

Norwich

11

7

63.6

West Ham

49

31

63.3

Newcastle

56

35

62.5

Stoke

8

5

62.5

Arsenal

93

56

60.2

Bradford

5

3

60.0

Fulham

38

22

57.9

Interestingly, the side with the worst win record against 10 men in Premier League history is Watford. They saw opposing sides reduced to 10 men on three occasions during their days in the Premier League and won none of those matches.

Watford's record against 10 men in the Premier League:

07/08/99: Lost 3-2 to Wimbledon29/04/00: Lost 3-2 to Man Utd21/02/07: Drew 1-1 with Wigan

ROB'S JOBDear Martin. Can you settle a bet for us? Where does Roberto Di Matteo sit on the all-time list of Chelsea managers? I have calculated that his win percentage is way above 50% and I can't think there are many with a better record than his in our history. A friend of mine says Carlo Ancelotti is definitely higher and another (who is not a Chelsea fan by the way) says it is Jose Mourinho. Can you tell us who is right? Francis (Chelsea fan)

MARTIN SAYS: Thanks to our friends at Opta I can tell you that none of you are correct Francis. Roberto Di Matteo has the seventh highest win percentage of Chelsea's 29 full-time managers, having won 24 of his 42 games (57.1%) in all competitions. Carlo Ancelotti is fifth on the list with a 61.5% win ratio and Jose Mourinho is second with 67.0%. However, top of the pile is Guus Hiddink, whose 16 wins in 22 matches in 2009 results in a win ratio of 72.7%. Interestingly, Avram Grant is third on the list, having won two thirds of his matches in charge.

SLOW ON THE DRAWHi Martin, Great column! Keep it up. Correct me if am wrong but I think Man United have yet to draw this season. That brings to mind how long a team has played consecutive league matches (either in a single season or rolled over) without drawing, and which team was that. Nana, Manchester United fan.

MARTIN SAYS: Manchester United are currently on a 15-game run without a draw. In fact, the only draw they've had in their last 26 Premier League games was that incredible 4-4 with Everton at Old Trafford last April, the game regarded by many as the one that cost them the title!

However, they are some way short of matching the record for consecutive Premier League games without a draw. In the 20-and-a-bit years of the Premier League we've seen five teams go exactly 20 games without a draw, but the record is held by the Bolton team of last season who played a remarkable 28 consecutive Premier League games without drawing a match.

They secured a 1-1 draw at Newcastle on February 26, 2011 and almost made it into 2012 before their next league draw came. Their 28-game run ended when they were held 1-1 at home by Wolves on New Year's Eve 2011. Their 18-game streak without a draw at the start of last season is also the longest run from the start of a campaign.

Longest runs without a draw in the Premier League:

Team

Games without a draw

Date of last game

Bolton

28

26 December 2011

Chelsea

20

5 December 2009

Man United

20

13 May 2009

Blackburn

20

18 April 2007

Sunderland

20

10 September 2005

Coventry

20

6 September 2000

Dear Martin. I read a stat that Javier Hernandez has the best goals-per-minute ratio of any player in Premier League history. After his second-half goals at Aston Villa this would make a lot of sense, but I wonder if Edin Dzeko is catching him up as he has scored a lot of goals this season without being on the pitch very often. Can you tell me if this is true? Keep up the good work, Kevin (Manchester United fan)

MARTIN SAYS: We asked Opta to look into this and they tell us that Chicharito actually has the second highest goals-per-minute ratio of any player in Premier League history (note they've only included players with a minimum of 15 Premier League goals). He's scored 27 Premier League goals during his 3,232 minutes on the pitch to date. The other player you mention, Edin Dzeko, is fourth on their list with 22 goals in 2,750 minutes.

Top of their list is another Manchester City striker, Sergio Aguero, who has scored one more goal than Hernandez and has spent 100 minutes fewer on the pitch. His tally of 28 goals in 3,116 minutes works out as a goal every 111 minutes.

Top 10 goals-per-minute ratio in the Premier League (minimum 15 goals):

Player

Premier League goals

Minutes/goal

Sergio Aguero

28

111.3

Javier Hernandez

27

119.7

Thierry Henry

175

121.8

Edin Dzeko

22

125.0

Ruud van Nistelrooy

95

128.2

Robin van Persie

104

136.9

Hernan Crespo

20

140.7

Alan Shearer

260

146.9

Demba Ba

31

149.4

Mario Balotelli

19

149.7

FORMER FRIENDS AS FOESOnce again Martin, very informative read. Knowledge is power!!! I have a question I've been wanting to ask for a while now and hopefully a man of your calibre and stature shouldn't fail me. Signings coming back to haunt their old clubs... who has scored the most goals against a previous club in the Premier League? Patrick Coyle (Liverpool fan)

MARTIN SAYS: Thanks for the kind words Patrick, but I needed plenty of help from our back-up team in answering this one!

There are several ways of answering this question. The player with the most Premier League goals against a club he has previously played for is Alan Shearer, who has scored 14 times against Southampton.

However, Shearer never played for Southampton in the Premier League. If you're looking for the man who has scored the most Premier League goals against another team he has represented in the Premier League then the answer is Andy Cole. The former England striker scored 11 times against Newcastle after leaving them during the 1994/95 season.

And if you're looking for the record number of goals scored by a player against a team he has also represented in the Premier League then that record belongs to Michael Owen, who has scored 13 Premier League against Newcastle. However, they all came in a Liverpool shirt BEFORE he joined the Magpies - so you could hardly say he "came back to haunt them". In fact, three of those goals were scored in a 4-1 win in August 1998 (you may remember the famous shot of Owen rubbing his hands together in celebration), which was Ruud Gullit's first game in charge. The duo have obviously made up since then as they were together in Sky's Champions League studio this week.